A Generous Heart
by IHeartHodgela
Summary: This was my first attempt at a SLASH fic TWO GIRLS, so if you don't enjoy those fics, please don't read and bash this one. It's an idea that popped into my head following my millionth viewing of The Skull in the Desert, and it's an AngelaBrennan pairing


**Author's Note**: This is a Brennan/Angela, B/A, Brangela(?) slash fanfic. It is rated GC for Goofy Cuteness. (In reality, it would get a G). Simply put, it's a little piece of fluff that ponders the question – "what _could_have happened if Booth hadn't interrupted the B/A moment at the end of The Skull in the Desert". Because I wanted this bit to "flow" after the last scene of that episode, I kind of stole some of the actual lines. No copyright infringement intended!

**Ownership**: Yeah, right. I wish. Seriously, I do.

**More Notes:** I should also state that I am a serious Hodgela shipper and B/B admirer. But that said, there's just something about the B/A pairing that intrigues me, and I'd give anything to see something happen on that front! Enjoy!

_**A Generous Heart**_

"You promise?" Angela Montenegro asked, her voice catching in her throat. "From your heart?"

"Better." Temperance Brennan smiled. "From my head. And yes, I promise," she reached out and enveloped her friend in a tight hug. She spoke softly into her hair, "from my heart, that you will get another chance."

Brennan pulled away from Angela and studied her face. The way her mouth pulled down at the corners, and the way that – when she smiled – tiny dimples appeared in her cheeks. The deep chocolate eyes that always had a glimmer to them were now sad and desolate.

Her hands lingering on Angela's arms, she smiled softly.

"Brennan?" Angela managed. "How do you do it?"

Brennan shook her head, her brows raised. "Do what?" She asked innocently. Had her best friend noticed the intent look she'd gotten after the hug? Had she noticed how she'd held on tightly for just a second longer?

"You make me feel so … good. So … important, and loved."

"I'm merely offering comfort," Brennan began. "Anthropologically, the human species are wired to seek out pain in another's demeanor, and…"

"No", Angela replied. "I don't mean 'anthropologically'. I mean, it's just you. As long as I've known you, Bren, nobody's been able to make me feel this way."

Brennan remained speechless. She let out a muffled sigh, and weighed how best to approach this. She knew her best friend was hurting, and had just lost what she deemed the love of her life. Was now really the time to be having the heart to heart on what each of them provided for the other?

"I just felt like with Kirk … with Kirk, I was somehow using him. I mean, it got me this beautiful vacation for three weeks out of each year. And for the other 49 weeks, I could do whatever I wanted. Was that right of me?"

"Maybe…" Brennan began, and stopped to consider her words carefully. "Maybe he just … felt more for you than you did for him? You said he wanted more time with you. Maybe…"

"Yeah, he wanted me. All the time, but I just wasn't into that. He was the sweetest guy I've ever known, and for those three weeks he treated me like a total princess."

Like the royalty you are, Brennan thought silently. Angela was just the type of person who deserved to be waited on, and treated like she was a goddess.

"And you wanted your distance," she said aloud. "You just couldn't commit to a full time relationship."

"No," Angela shook her head. "That's not completely right. I mean, sure – I have total commitment issues, I'll admit that much. Being raised by a single mother, and seeing your father only when his tour came through town … that'll do your heart some real damage. But that's not completely it. There's more."

"More?"

"Yeah. I just … it never felt completely right when I was with Kirk. We met years ago, and our 'arrangement' came to be over just the past few years. But then … then I met someone else."

Brennan's heart froze in her chest. She stared straight across from her, but Angela had averted her eyes, and was studying something in her lap.

"You met … another guy? But Angela, you met lots of other guys while you were with Kirk…"

"Not another _guy_. I met a friend. Somebody I felt a connection with right off, a connection I have never had with another person before – ever. And all I could think about was this person."

"Oh." Brennan was beyond the point of her words making logical sense. Her heart had defrosted and resumed beating, and she could almost feel it through her skin.

"Those three weeks I was with Kirk, I would spend talking about this other person non-stop. He used to get so annoyed. It was like I was physically here with him, but emotionally and spiritually I was with this other person. Even when we were … in our more intimate moments."

"But you never … you never were 'with' this other person?" Brennan choked out.

Angela shook her head, the sadness returned to her eyes and her voice. "No," she said. "We're just … just friends."

"But … why? I mean, if you felt such a strong connection to them then why … why not…"

"Because I was afraid, like I am about everything." Angela sighed deeply.

"Afraid of what?"

"Afraid that … that she wouldn't feel the same way about me."

Brennan reached out her hand, her fingers coming to rest on Angela's chin. She brushed her fingers across a stray tear that had begun to make its way down her face.

"She does," Brennan said softly. "Feel the same way. She always has. Since that first day she met you."

Using her other hand to cup Angela's face, she pulled her in for a kiss. It was long and soft, and Brennan could feel Angela's pain melting away.

When it ended, Angela kept her eyes closed a moment longer. When she opened them, she saw that Brennan was again studying her.

"What?" She asked softly, cocking a brow.

"Remember when I promised you you'd get another chance?" She took Angela's hands in her own, and held them. A mischievous grin crossed her lips, and her beautiful blue eyes stared straight into the woman across from her. "Well, you're about to get it now…"


End file.
